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The Prince George's County Board of Education approved a fiscal 2012 budget 8 to 1 Thursday that will eliminate approximately 1,100 jobs and increase class sizes.

Passage of the $1.6 billion fiscal 2012 budget was a disappointment to many, including some of the board members who voted for it.

"There will be a lot of unhappy people, and my heart breaks, it does," said board member Rosalind A. Johnson (Dist. 1).  "It is not the kind of budget that I ever wanted to give a vote on ... but we do not control the money, we only accept what we are given."

Johnson said work on the budget, which now must go to the County Council and the county executive for approval, will continue and that Thursday's vote was just one step in the process.

The budget Superintendent William Hite proposed earlier this month included the elimination of 1,132 positions and class-size increases expected to save $20 million.

Board member Edward Burroughs III (Dist. 8) was the only member to vote against the budget, citing the lack of a plan to continue services — such as additional instruction to help students read on grade-level and transportation for students who go to specialized schools — that were provided by eliminated programs.

Burroughs said he would have liked to see furloughs in the budget, a move that he said would have saved jobs and that could always be undone if the school system received additional funding.

The Prince George's County Council of PTAs was disappointed with the cuts made to direct services, and recommended eliminating redundant or ineffective central office positions to reduce costs, the council's president, Theresa Saunders, said in an e-mail.

Bart Lawrence, president of the Hyattsville Elementary PTA, said that he and many parents understood the need for cuts in some areas but didn't want effective programs, such as the reading program mentioned by Burroughs, to be eliminated.

"We don't want the cuts to increase class sizes, to decrease the amount of [time teachers work directly with students] and we don't want to see programs that work end," Lawrence said.

Hite did not immediately return calls for comment.

dleaderman@gazette.net